Some members of one of Washington’s most exclusive clubs have a message for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: We don’t want you.<\/p>\n
Around February of last year, Blanche began the rigorous process to join the Metropolitan Club, one of the oldest private clubs in Washington and boasting D.C. royalty as members. But at least six members have written a letter to the Met Club’s board of directors objecting to Blanch’s joining, saying he is too polarizing and has politicized the Justice Department, according to two current members who have seen the letters or been briefed on them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s targeting a lot of people, and the Justice Department is targeting a lot of the club’s members, like judges, nonprofit organizations and universities,\u201d said one member, who like others was anonymous for this item because the Met Club prohibits its associates from talking to the media about insider trading.<\/p>\n
For example, outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell\u2014whom the DOJ was investigating as part of its investigation into the renovations at the central bank\u2014is a member of the club. The Justice Department closed its criminal investigation into Powell and the Federal Reserve on Friday.<\/p>\n
A second member of the Met Club, who told Politico he has written a letter to the Met’s leadership urging them to reject Blanche, said Acting DOJ leader’s comments essentially support President Donald Trump’s use of<\/a> The DOJ going after its alleged enemies is “very shocking” and noted that there are current and former judges in the ranks of the Met Club who may have committed crimes.<\/p>\n A third Met Club member who opposed Blanch’s membership said, “I am disappointed that club standards are falling by so many levels and I can only hope that the club leadership will get things right, take the helm and get us on a smooth sailing journey once again.” Five members of the club have confirmed that Blanche is seeking admission to the club.<\/p>\n Justin Peterson, Met Club president and managing partner of PR and lobbying firm DCI Group, did not respond to requests for comment. The Met Club also did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n “The Trump administration is at war with most of the American institutions, and so are many of the people who represent those institutions,” the club’s first member said. “And the club is a place where you want to relax and have cordial conversation. But if he’s there, given that the Justice Department is so combative and aggressive, that’s not the kind of tone we want.”<\/p>\n Blanche did not respond to a request for comment. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment, saying it was a private matter.<\/p>\n The Met Club’s membership list reads like a who’s who of the D.C. elite who transcends partisan affiliation. Founded by several Treasury officials in the 1860s, it has had at least six U.S. presidents, several cabinet members, including Henry Kissinger and Dean Acheson, as well as senators and governors as members. In A story from the New York Times<\/a> From 1983 onwards, it was derided as “the Moose Lodge for the powerful” as, at the time, it had a five-year waiting list.<\/p>\n This is also not without controversy. In 1961, then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy \u2013 and several other members \u2013 Resigned from Met Club because<\/a> It discriminated against blacks and allowed only black members since 1972. Women were banned from participating in this As a member until 1988<\/a>.<\/p>\n